Make Fi Prefer Strong WiFi Instead of Weak Cell Signal for Calls

[sirkenneth]

I have to think this has been addressed somewhere. My house is in an area with weak cell signals. But, my home WiFi is 200 mbps. My call quality at home is pretty crummy. I got Fi thinking it would prefer my strong WiFi for calls. But in fact, Fi will prefer any cell signal, no matter how bad, to WiFi for calls. I wish there were an option to prefer WiFi. Some suggest turning on airplane mode and then turning on WiFi (with airplane mode still on) to force the phone to use WiFi for calls. Thoughts?

 

[Broncho]

That is the only way we've found to force a wifi call. If you are willing to root your phone you can probably get Automate or Tasker set up to automatically do that when you connect to a specified wifi.

I would also suggest using the "Send Feedback" at the bottom of the home screen in the Fi app to request a way to either prefer wifi for calling or something. I asked for the ability to specify which wifi access points we wanted it to use wifi calling on by default. I would hope if enough people contact them about it maybe they'll figure out a way to add the feature.

 

[BattleSwine]

I've found if I dial out through regular Hangouts app it will use my home Wi-Fi. Using Phone app it uses Cell towers even though Sprint and TMO are equally weak at my house.

 

[sisterpete]

I've found if I dial out through regular Hangouts app it will use my home Wi-Fi. Using Phone app it uses Cell towers even though Sprint and TMO are equally weak at my house.

If someone calls you while at home, will it give you the option to answer with hangouts so the call will be wifi? I have the same problem at my home, Sprint and T-Mobile are both pathetically weak. With sprint I had a booster and now with T-Mobile I have theirs. I would obviously have to return it if I switched to google Fi.

Thanks

 

[sirkenneth]

The only way to ensure the call comes in over WiFi at home is to use the process I described: turn on airplane mode, then turn on WiFi while leaving airplane mode on, this ensures cell transmission is off. When I leave the house, I have to remember to turn airplane mode off.

 

[Graymonkey]

FWIW, I have the same issue and same solution.

 

[tsparks1]

FWIW, I have the same issue and same solution.

Hmm, I by no means am trying to be a cheerleader for fi but I will state that it has worked for me, just yesterday while at home I received a call on it was showing on the phone as being through my OnHub router as it was obviously the stronger signal.. I do receive a fairly decent cell signal here and do not use hangouts. Wonder if being on 7.1.1 makes a difference? BTW, I've never used airplane mode on my phone.

 

[sirkenneth]

I'm on 7.1.1 now, too, so maybe I'll turn off airplane mode and see if it's gotten better at home choosing wifi for calls when the cell signal is low. I shall report back.

 

[AZbear]

I'm on 7.1.1 now, too, so maybe I'll turn off airplane mode and see if it's gotten better at home choosing wifi for calls when the cell signal is low. I shall report back.

In addition to 7.1.1 there was an update to the Fi app in the last day or 2. Not sure if the update might have made a difference.

 

[Dubbayoo]

I seem to get echo making calls with wifi on; so I usually disable it when I want to make a call.